1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to retaining walls and wall systems and more particularly to such walls and systems, including panels of extruded polymeric material, for use as sea walls, retainers, revetments, sound barriers, construction panels, room dividers, building walls, floors, ceilings, and the like.
2. Prior Art Statement
It is known to form sea walls of a plurality of panels formed of extruded PVC material and interconnected edge to edge, as shown in Berger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,921 issued June 23, 1987 and 4,690,588 issued Sept. 1, 1987. In Berger, panel strips of corrugated or sinusoidal shape are formed with alternating groove edges and tongue edges, permitting the panels to be interlocked along their vertical marginal edges. Wale elements are mounted along outer surfaces of the panel strips and accept tie bolts or tie rods extending to ground anchors on the opposite side of the sea wall. Berger also discloses angled strips for making corners, and connectors for joining adjacent strips in edge-to-edge relation.
Sinusoidal or corrugated sheets have been mounted in facing relation and connected or joined by tie rods, and the spaces therebetween have been filled with concrete or mortar to provide a water-tight joint, to form a revetment, as shown in Schneller, U.S. Pat. No. 3,247,673 of April 26, 1966.
Sinusoidal or corrugated panel sections have been used to make up retaining walls or sea walls, with wale elements on a front surface tied back to anchors, as shown in a number of prior patents. Caples, U.S. Pat. No. 1,947,151 of Feb. 13, 1934 shows panel sections formed with interconnecting locking vertical edges in alternating inwardly and outwardly directed portions to form a sinusoidal wall. In Caples, the interlocking ends are identical. In Frederick, U.S. Pat. No. 3,822,557 of July 9, 1974, one panel vertical edge is formed with a tongue and the opposite panel vertical edge is formed with a groove proportioned to receive the tongue of an adjacent panel.
Another example of a retaining wall made of interlocking sections of sheet material is McGrath, U.S. Pat. No. 2,968,931 of Jan. 24, 1961. In McGrath each panel section is bent into three angular portions, and each panel section is reversed when connected, edge to edge to form a sinusoidal-like pattern.
Earlier examples of wall systems having interlocking panel sections which are assembled in longitudinal alignment, with interlocking vertical edges, include Clarke, U.S. Pat. No. 972,059 of Oct. 4, 1910; Boardman et al, U.S. Pat. No. 1,422,821 of July 18, 1922; and Stockfleth, U.S. Pat. No. 1,371,709 of March 15, 1921.
It is also known to use a series of individual arcuate sections which are then joined or interconnected to form a retainer wall, as shown in Van Weele, U.S. Pat. No. 4,407,612 of Oct. 4, 1983.
While walls formed by corrugated panel sections are extensively shown in the prior art in which the corrugations or the axes of the corrugations run vertically, is also known to form panel sections in which the axes of the corrugations run horizontally, as shown in Sivachenko U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,359 of July 11, 1978. FIGS. 7 and 8 also show opposed facing pairs of corrugated sections in which the spaces therebetween may be filled with concrete to form a revetment.
It is common to use wale brackets or wale elements in combination with panel-type sea walls or retainer walls. Berger, Schnabel, Jr. and Caples show wale elements in longitudinal alignment. Schnabel, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,541,798 of Nov. 24, 1970 shows individual longitudinally spaced wale elements along the wall front face. The wale elements receive tie-back rods, which rods extend through or between the panels to suitable anchors.